Topic: IMPRESSIONS: LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias

[Mark Kelly]

We get our hands on Frontier's highly-anticipated sequel.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=19982

 LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias was playable for the first time at the Nintendo WiiWare & DSiWare Summit held in London on September 16. Nintendo World Report got some hands-on time with the game.    

For those familiar with the first game, LostWinds will be immediately familiar. The powerless Toku and his accompanying wind spirit Enril control exactly as they did in the first game, with the Nunchuk and Wii Remote, respectively. Toku can only jump and attacks enemies by using the wind, as well as create vortexes and slipstreams as learned in the first adventure.    

Toku arrives in Summerfalls Village, locked in a permanent winter in an attempt to trap an ancient evil spirit. By tracking down bear-shaped statues, you can easily switch between summer and winter.    

In the winter, Toku is chilled by the cold air, but you can create snowballs by drawing circles anywhere in the air, breaking your way through frozen waterfalls. In the summer, those who played through the first game will feel right at home, as the ice has thawed and plant life appears. You can use the new cyclone ability to draw water into the air, creating rainclouds. You can then blow the cloud around and deposit rain in a new location. Switching between the two seasons is key to solving the game's new puzzles and accessing new areas.    

The demo included a building interior, where a blacksmith provides you with a suit that prevents Toku from freezing. Toku can now also swim, but only during the summer. An evil Toku has even been said to appear, but he was not in the build we played.  The game also has a new score, but sadly it couldn't be heard over the bustle of the show floor.    

[Jonnyboy117]

I'm excited, but I'd be a lot more excited if they'd added a real jump for the character.

[ShyGuy]

Isn't the wind being your jump the hook of the game?

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Isn't the wind being your jump the hook of the game?

Took the words directly from my mouth.

Aside from that, I've got no doubt that LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias will be well-designed, especially with the puzzles, because the seasonal switch powers has great potential. I'm just worried about the length, which I'm crossing my fingers for seeing as this sequel has been in development for 18 months. One thing this title will illustrate for sure is the effectiveness of the SD Card Menu, because it's safe to say this will take up a hefty chunk of blocks - those art assets, while beautiful, can't be easy to compress, so... yeah.

By the way, I'd like to offer my welcoming greetings to Mark Kelly. The more representation of the Land of Hope and Glory the site can get, the better. Good luck, Mark.

[KDR_11k]

I think wind as the jump is just a gimmick, the whole using wind to interact with the world is the real hook. NyxQuest managed to have a pretty mobile character while still retaining the pointer interaction.

[EasyCure]

Another great read.

Keep up the good interviews guys!